Nagpur Central Jail is set to become the first facility in Maharashtra to have dedicated barracks for transgender inmates. This pioneering step aims to address the unique challenges of housing transgenders in prison environment. The design for the new barracks has officially been sanctioned and forwarded to the Public Works Department (PWD) for construction. Jail Superintendent Vaibhav Aage confirmed the information and explained that the special barracks would help the jail administration better manage transgender criminals. “This initiative has been taken to ensure a more inclusive and humane approach to corrections. It will help us address the needs of transgender prisoners in a more effective and secure manner,” Aage stated.

 

The new barracks, with construction cost of Rs 2.63 crore, will span an area of 5,000 square feet and have the capacity to accommodate up to 20 transgender inmates at a time. The facility will be divided into two sections, segregating transgender men from transgender women to maintain safety. According to jail officials, the barracks will be staffed with personnel trained in handling the unique requirements of transgenders.

 

The staff deployed will also be assigned according to whether the transgender is male or female to ensure proper safety and order within the barracks. It may be mentioned here that transgenders often face discrimination and violence even by the criminals. A senior official of Prison Department informed that such barracks would also be constructed at Taloja, Kolhapur, Aurangabad, Amravati, Thane, Yerawada and Nashik prisons.

 

 

The need for a dedicated transgender barracks in Nagpur’s Central Jail became particularly apparent in 2019, following a high-profile incident involving a group of transgenders. In that case, a group of trans women was involved in a violent altercation with another transgender over a rivalry. After their arrest and remand to magisterial custody, the jail administration faced a dilemma over how to house the accused. At that time, the transgender inmates were temporarily housed in a separate room located within the jail’s hospital wing which underlined the lack of adequate facilities for transgender prisoners.